June 2024
Every Boundary Waters trip I’ve taken over the last 16 years has started out roughly the same. After packing the vehicle and readying the trailer the night before, we spend a full day of driving to the beautiful arrowhead region of northern Minnesota. This year’s trip had us starting in Ely, a quaint northwoods town that greatly caters to the canoe country crowds that descend upon the area every summer. After visiting the Kawishiwi Ranger District for our permit, we had dinner in downtown Ely at Insula, a fusion American diner specializing in locally sourced ingredients. It was nothing short of amazing! After dinner and some souvenirs from the must-visit Piragis Northwoods Company, we were headed up the Echo Trail to Lake Jeanette Campground. The mosquitoes we knew would be ever present for this trip after a wet spring surpassed expectations at Jeanette, but that didn't stop us from watching the sunset and making last minute preparations for our entry day. Soon after the winds died down, the hoards of mosquitoes drove us into our tents and hammock for the night.
When we woke up Sunday morning, a short drive and a few last minute preparations had us on the water at the edge of this 1 million acre wilderness. We made sure to get an early start as we knew we would be facing stiffer headwinds as the day progressed. We planned to get to at least Boulder Bay of Lac La Croix, but hit an already slightly white-capped Nina Moose Lake, only a couple hours into our journey. Progress was slow but thankfully when we hit Agnes Lake, the winds were blowing across rather than down the lake, and by sticking to the west shore we avoided most of the wind. We wearily made it to our camp on Boulder Bay in the middle of what turned out to a be a beautiful and breezy afternoon after a nearly 6 hour effort of paddling and portaging.
Campsites in the Boundary Waters don’t offer many amenities. A fire grate and a latrine are all that are provided, but it’s what else is there that truly makes a site memorable. This site was spacious, with a good seating area around the fire and level tent pads. Most of the site was covered by a soft layer of pine needles dropped by the towering pines that provided relief from the sun but also allowed the breeze to come through. A sandy canoe loading/unloading area and an easy hike to the latrine, along with plenty of trees for safely hanging our food for the night added to its overall appeal. The only negative was dealt with quickly- the previous visitors had left a large log smoldering in the fire grate, which we promptly dunked in the lake and then carried off into the woods behind the site. I wish people would be more considerate of the dangers of such irresponsible acts.
Monday
Monday morning brought smooth as glass paddling through Boulder, Tiger and Never Fail Bays while on our way to Fish Stake Narrows, a popular fishing area of Lac La Croix. Each of us caught fish while paddling before we crossed LLC west to east to view the pictographs on the palisades along the Canadian shore. This phenomenal set of pictos is well worth the extra paddling to check out.
After the pictos, we headed back to American waters and into Fish Stake Narrows. The island site east of FSN was open and would be our base camp for the next few days. It is a very nice site with plenty of space, trails to explore, a decent landing off to the side of the site and equally delightful views of both sunrise and sunset. Monday's weather was postcard perfect with a light breeze and warm sunshine under bright blue skies and cotton candy clouds.
I discovered my in-camp diversion during this first evening on the island- someone had hidden toy soldiers around the site. One was in between the thick bark of a big pine tree near the side canoe landing, and the other was left to overlook the fire grate area. It was good to know the site was secured while we were away. This small Leave No Trace "violation" brought many smiles to my face and resulted in a half dozen searches over the next few days to see if more well hidden soldiers were left behind (there were!), which resulted in this island getting it's new name- Toy Soldier Island.
We finished the day with a long campfire, thanks in part to a large wood pile left behind by a previous visitor that we couldn't even burn through in the next 3 days despite our best efforts (thank you to whoever that was)! All the best planning, reminiscing, and storytelling happens at the campfire and we did plenty of that for sure!
Tuesday
As far as days in the wilderness goes, Tuesday was just one of those days where you take what you can get. It rained lightly most of the morning, resulting in lots of time under the tarp. We fished near camp and explored the trails around our island. We found the Mio container that had mysteriously gone missing during dinner the night before, with a hole chewed in it by our resident camp red squirrel who must have needed the electrolyte boost. Two more toy soldiers were also discovered, bringing the squad up to 4 members.
We stayed in camp until an afternoon break in the weather cued us head over to Toe Lake to try our luck fishing there. The portage was muddy, horrendously buggy and had sections with lots of poison ivy. In the back of my mind I just kept thinking, I hope this side-trip is worth it (it was). We knew it had gotten windier throughout the afternoon, but we were not expecting to see a white-capped and whipped up lake in front of us when we finished the portage. We decided to paddle-troll it anyway and were rewarded with several large pike. We kept two for dinner and then headed back to Toy Soldier Island. We did catch a couple sizeable walleye while trolling back to our camp, but since we already had the 2 pike ready to eat, those walleye were quickly released. After another long and late campfire, the sound of trilling toads, chirping tree frogs and wailing loons helped me drift off to a much needed night of sleep.
Wednesday
Another morning of light on and off rain until lunchtime did not deter us from our plans for the day. We had plans to troll through Lady Boot Bay, hoping to catch a lake trout. Despite our best efforts, we failed to hook into any trout, but did catch a few other fish. Rumbles of thunder increased as we moved south, so we landed at a nearby site and waited out the wind, rain, and lightning for 30 minutes. What once looked to be a decent site is still littered with trees from the big blowdown of 1999 and the site doesn't seem to get much use. The skies cleared up nicely afterwards, but with more storms forecast for later in the day, we decided to head back closer to camp.
After returning from the Lady Boot Bay trek, I jumped in lake for the first time on this trip and was quickly reminded that early June and big, deep water means cold swimming. It was refreshing, but didn't last long. I found 3 more army men during my afternoon search, which was cut short by heavy rain and small hail. Thankfully there was very little wind with this short 30 minute storm, which we found out later was much more severe in other parts of the Boundary Waters. Other storm clouds continued to roll in throughout the evening, but passed around us with no rain.
Thursday
This was our day to get on the move, so we packed up camp and headed towards Pocket Creek with the ultimate goal of making it to Oyster Lake for the night. I decided to bring the toy soldiers with us, partly because LNT does mean LNT to me, and partly because they had become a unique little treasure and reminder of this visit to LLC.
The day started off with a light but steadily increasing breeze with lots of sunshine. We made quick work of most of LLC but the winds had increased by the time we reached Pocket Creek and surprisingly Ge-be-on-a-quet Lake was a white-capped mess. We had a rough crossing but both canoes handled it well and made it safely to the portage to Green Lake. There was a short burst of rain while we portaged between Green and Rocky Lakes, after which the mosquitoes intensified greatly. It was almost as if each drop brought one more flying nuisance along with it. A quick paddle through picturesque Rocky Lake and a brief visit to the pictorgraphs left me wanting more time to explore, but we had a destination in mind and stuck to that plan.
When we got to Oyster, the winds funneling into that part of lake forced us to hug shore along the large island while we searched for our next site. The best one was full and the others were not to our liking, so we made the decision to cross the lake and head east to the site near the Oyster River portage as the winds and waves didn't seem as bad in that portion of the lake. Less than half way into the 3/4 mile crossing, the winds shifted and nearly doubled in speed and the entire lake went instantly to 2 1/2-3 foot waves. After a very tense 10-15 minutes of riding the waves and tacking through the troughs, we got to shore safely. It was the most tense I've ever been in a canoe, but everyone handled it well and stayed calm. We agreed afterwards that while what happened was not predictable, we would do our best to not allow ourselves to get into that type of predicament in the future.
With the winds they way they were, we didn't have an option to go out fishing or do much of anything. The sun came back out in the later afternoon and we quickly noticed that the large uprooted tree near the water's edge was a garter snake sunning spot. Multiple snakes were there warming back up after the rain and wind from earlier. My friend and I explored a trail leading from camp to the portage. He found an old weather beaten set of antlers near that portage, a nice surprise for what had been a day full of bad ones to that point.
Friday
After our one-night stay on Oyster, we packed up camp to head back closer for our quickly approaching exit day. We departed camp early and with the higher water levels, we took the Oyster River shortcut, bypassing the longer portage into Agnes and coming back into the Moose River south of Agnes. It was a great time saver, but not something I would recommend trying in low water conditions.
We arrived on a busy Nina Moose Lake and found many sites already occupied. Despite this, we somehow ended up with the highly sought after island peninsula campsite and watched as the rest of the lake filled shortly after. The site is overgrown with poison ivy and only had one decent spot for a hammock, but we made it work by pitching the tents on a rocky area near the front of camp.
While hanging around camp before and after fishing, we watched a large jackrabbit that seemed to have some ongoing territorial battle with two resident chipmunks. Multiple times the rabbit hopped right through camp chasing them. The chipmunks were clearly as entertained as us, goading the rabbit into chasing them time and time again with their constant chatter. It was a strange and comical sight for sure. The site was also a 10/10 on the mosquito scale, so we tried to hang out in the open areas near shore as much as possible. We finished our trip with a short campfire and dreams of next year’s adventure.
Saturday
The only goals we ever have for our departure day are an early start and a safe drive home, both of which were met. We were back to the parking lot by mid-morning and driving shortly after. The mosquitoes were horrendous on the final river stretches and at the entry parking lot and we were happy to be away from them by that point. The drive home was broken up by lunch at Culver's in Superior, with more talk about future trips and what we would do better/different for our next group trip.
While the fishing was just ok; especially for early June; and the weather was a bit hit or miss, we had a great trip. The severe weather including heavy rains and flooding that followed just a few days after we left made our trip all that much more meaningful. The Boundary Waters holds an allure for me that drives deep into my soul and has become intricately woven into who I am. My next adventure to the BWCAW can’t come soon enough!
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